Women’s Soccer Advances to Semi-Finals Behind Five Goal Second Half
Despite a slow first half, The Pride found an offensive rhythm in the second half and blew past the Ferrum Panthers 6-1. Greensboro lost its regular season meeting with Ferrum 2-1, and looked in danger of repeating after an early goal, but held tough and pulled away early in the second half.
Althouth it was Greensboro who controlled posession early in the game, it was Ferrum who drew first blood. Following a corner kick, Kara Pegram found herself on the good end of a deflection and fired the ball through a crowd of players and into the back of the net. The Panthers carried momentum for a short while, but The Pride locked down on defense and created some pressure of their own.
The Pride outshot Ferrum 18-7 in the first half, but it was on one of the last shots of the half that Greensboro finally found a goal. Sophomore Sarah Lang broke through the defense and took a strong shot that rebounded off the crossbar; several players scrambled for the rebound, but it was Lang who reached it first and gave The Pride the equalizer. The goal was Lang’s 14th of the season.
Following the break, The Pride dominated. Meredith Kelly scored the game winner in the 52nd minute as she headed in a cross from Molly Thomas. Sarah Hopkins added to the lead with a free kick from 23 yards out just six minutes later. Greensboro was not done scoring, however, as freshman Allison Gibson scored back-to-back goals to push the lead to 5-1. Erin Cass scored the final goal at the 80:29 mark.
The Pride outshot Ferrum 29-10 and held a 7-5 advantage in corner kicks. Shireen Unvala recorded five saves in goal, while Caitlyn Deaton tallied eight.
Greensboro’s six goals is the second highest number of goals they have scored this season. They scored six against both N.C Wesleyan and Peace, while scoring nine at Mary Baldwin.
The Pride will take on the winner of the Christopher Newport-N.C Wesleyan game scheduled for this evening at 7:00 p.m. The women defeated NC Wesleyan soundly earlier this season and played to a scoreless draw with the top-seeded Captains.